Men-at-Arms 398: The Texan Army 1835-46

50 Pages·2003·3.28 MB·English

by  Stuart Reid, Richard Hook

O
SPREY
Men-at-Arms
PUBLISHING
The Texan Army
1835– 46
Stuart Reid Illustrated by Richard Hook
•
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Men-at-Arms • 398
The Texan Army
1835–46
Stuart Reid Illustrated by Richard Hook
•
Series editor Martin Windrow
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THE TEXAN ARMY 1835–46
INTRODUCTION
A
CCORDING TO “BIG FOOT” WALLACE, they were a “motley, mixed up
crowd, you may be certain – broken down politicians from the
‘old States’ that somehow had got on the wrong side of the fence,
and had been left out in the cold; renegades and refugees from justice,
that had ‘left their country for their country’s good,’ and adventurers of
all sorts, ready for anything or any enterprise that afforded a reasonable
prospect of excitement and plunder. Dare-devils they were all, and
General Sam Houston
afraid of nothing under the sun (except perhaps a due-bill or a bailiff).”
(1793–1863) as depicted in
They were also, overwhelmingly, Americans; and therein lay the key
an 1838 lithograph. This
single-breasted uniform with to the story. Texas was originally a thinly populated province of Mexico
a lone star on the collar appears forming part of the federal state of Coahuila y Tejas. While the massive
in a number of contemporary influx of American settlers into the region begun by Stephen Austin
portraits, but is not described
in the 1820s and 1830s ultimately made conflict inevitable, the Texan
in the 1839 regulations.
Revolution was also part of a much wider Mexican civil war between
(Texas State Library and
Archives Commission) the conservative Centralistas or Santanistas and the liberal Federalistas.
The country’s US-inspired 1824 constitution,
which allowed considerable autonomy to the
Mexican states, had been annulled after General
Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna seized power in
1834; and over the next decade a series of poorly
co-ordinated federalist and secessionist revolts
broke out against his rule, as far apart as Yucatan
and New Mexico.
In Texas the situation was aggravated by ethnic
and cultural differences. In order to encourage
settlement the Mexican authorities had originally
offered a number of attractive concessions, which
effectively amounted to an absence of gov-
ernment and ultimately worked against the
assimilation of the colonists into Mexican society.
Moreover, for some time there had been pressure
from the colonists for Texas to be separated
from Coahuila and recognized as a federal state
in its own right; but thus far such recognition
had been resisted by the central government,
through a well-founded fear that it would
merely be the prelude to eventual American
annexation. Consequently American immigration
had officially been suspended by the Mexican
government for that very reason in 1830.
Predictably this aroused considerable resentment, 3
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since the overwhelming majority of the incomers still thought of
themselves as Americans and behaved accordingly, particularly when
the Mexican central government threatened to become more oppressive
than the US one which they had left. Notwithstanding, many “Texians”
initially rejected calls for a declaration of independence; instead, they
and their Tejano neighbors at first took up arms with the professed
intention of upholding the Mexican Federalist constitution of 1824
and its supposed guarantees of their democratic rights.
Thus, when General Martin Perfecto de Cos landed in Texas with
the intention of disarming its unruly citizens and putting a final end to
American immigration, he instead found himself facing a full-blown
rebellion which was rapidly to turn into a revolution – and which
4 ultimately led to the United States reaching the Pacific Ocean.
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CHRONOLOGY
OPPOSITE In 1835 the southern
boundary between Texas and the
neighboring state of Tamaulipas
1835
was the Rio Nueces, not the Rio
30 June Texian insurgents attack Anahuac
Grande – the lower part of which
was also confusingly known as 13 July Uprising in Nacogdoches
the Rio Bravo. The inhospitable 2 October Battle of Gonzales
prairie between the two rivers 28 October Battle of Concepcion
was to be disputed territory until
5–9 December Storming of San Antonio de Bexar
the international border was
1836
finally fixed on the Rio Grande
after the American-Mexican War 1 January James Grant leads Federal Volunteer Army out of Bexar
of 1846–48. Note that during 16 February Santa Anna crosses Rio Grande
the Revolution, San Antonio de 23 February Siege of Alamo begins
Bexar was known simply as
27 February Battle of San Patricio
Bexar, though it later became
2 March Texan declaration of independence; battle of Agua Dulce
San Antonio. Goliad was better
known at the time as La Bahia. 6 March Alamo stormed by Mexican Army
19 March Battle of Coleto Creek
27 March Goliad massacre
21 April Battle of San Jacinto
4 July United States recognizes Republic of Texas
22 October Sam Houston inaugurated as first president of Republic
1840
15 March “Council House Fight” at San Antonio de Bexar
12 August Battle of Plum Creek
1841
19 June Santa Fe expedition departs Kenney’s Fort
5 October Texians surrender at Laguno Colorado near Santa Fe
1842
5–7 March Vazquez’s raid on San Antonio de Bexar
Captain Andrew Robinson’s
11–19 September Woll’s raid on San Antonio de Bexar
Harrisburg Volunteers carried
17 September Battle of Salado Creek
this red, white and blue tricolor
with a white star next to the 22 September Battle of Arroyo Hondo
staff at the siege of Bexar. 8 December Somervell expedition captures Laredo
Creed Taylor states that it 26 December Battle of Mier
was afterwards left in the
1843
Alamo “and that fragments…
24 April Snively expedition departs Georgetown
were found in the ruins after
the fall of the fortress.” 20 June Battle of Crooked Creek, New Mexico
1844
22 April Treaty of
Annexation with
United States
1845
25 July American “Corps
of Observation” arrives at
Corpus Christi, Texas
29 December State of Texas
admitted to Union
1846
19 February Formal
transfer of sovereignty to
United States
13 May United States
declares war on Mexico 5
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THE REVOLUTION
After a promising start the 1835 Texian insurrection against
Santa Anna’s government stagnated. In the open – as they clearly
demonstrated at Gonzales and Concepcion – the Texians’ rifles were
deadly; but, secure inside San Antonio de Bexar, General Cos could
afford to wait while the rebels quarreled amongst themselves and drifted
homewards in ever growing numbers. By the beginning of December
the rebel leaders were ready to abandon the siege entirely and
retire eastwards across the Guadalupe river. Then, in one of history’s
more dramatic turningpoints, a trio of “filibusters” – Ben Milam, Frank
Johnson and Dr James Grant – prevented the retreat by engineering and
then leading an all-out assault on the town.1 Grant was wounded at the
outset and Milam was killed on the third day of the battle, but the attack
achieved its purpose. Cos surrendered on 9 December, and enough
The Texian nemesis: General of the Texian army afterwards remained in being to join Grant’s
Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna proposed expedition to Matamoros, down on the Rio Grande.
Pérez de Lebrón (1794–1876). As far back as 5 November, Stephen Austin himself
A shameless political
had declared that “Nothing will aid Texas as much as an
opportunist who changed
expedition against Matamoros under General Mexia – it is
sides several times during
his career, Santa Anna all important.” Instead, Mexia, with a motley collection of
was brutal, capricious, and – largely American mercenaries, had tried unsuccessfully to
although capable of a seize Tampico further down the coast; but on 17 December
headstrong energy that
the Texian General Council at San Felipe de Austin resolved
sometimes brought him
on another attempt. This was intended to encourage a
success – a commander
of strictly limited talents. Federalist insurrection in Tamaulipas and, by so
carrying the war into the interior, to disrupt
or even prevent Santa Anna’s imminent
invasion of Texas.
Agua Dulce, the Alamo, Goliad
and San Jacinto
Sam Houston was accordingly ordered
to set it in motion; but he dragged his
heels, and on 1 January 1836 it was
Grant’s “Federal Volunteer Army”
that marched from Bexar – with the
aim of joining with the Federalistas
in establishing a new Republic of
Northern Mexico. Two weeks later,
after a memorable falling out between the
Council and the provisional governor, Henry
Smith, Sam Houston caught up with the
army at Goliad and succeeded in wrecking
the expedition by persuading a substantial
number of men to remain in Texas as
auxiliary volunteers. None of them would
recognize his authority, however; so, leaving
them at Refugio to await the arrival of the
1 Though today it has a specialized political meaning, in
the early 19th century “filibuster” – through the Spanish
filibustero,from older French and Dutch terms – meant
6 simply a piratical adventurer or freebooter.
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Council’s agent, Colonel James Fannin, Houston took himself off to
visit his Cherokee friends in East Texas.
Undaunted, Grant still pressed on with just 64 men to the then Texas
border on the River Nueces at San Patricio. From there he led a series of
raids into the Rio Grande valley with the dual aim of establishing contact
with the curiously elusive Federalistas, and of rounding up sufficient horses
and mules to mount all of Fannin’s men once they arrived. In the
meantime a Mexican army led by Santa Anna swept into Texas, and the
complexion of the war changed. In the face of this clear and present
danger the Texians put aside their differences and defiantly proclaimed
their independence from Mexico – only to face a succession of disasters.
While returning from one of their forays on 2 March – the day that
Texian independence was formally declared at San Felipe – Grant and his
men were ambushed and killed at Agua Dulce. By this time the irresolute
Fannin, far from advancing to his aid, had fallen back from Refugio to
Goliad, from where he had launched an abortive attempt to reach the
Alamo garrison in Bexar, besieged by Santa Anna since 23 February.
Two days after the declaration of independence Sam Houston was
confirmed as major-general and finally given authority over all the
volunteer troops as well as his handful of regulars; but – no doubt
The state flag of Coahuila y
recognizing the futility of marching against Santa Anna – he made no
Texas, possibly carried by
attempt to save the Alamo, which was stormed on 6 March2. Instead he Benavides’ or Seguin’s
avowedly planned to defend the line of the Colorado river, and Federalistasat the siege of
summoned Fannin to join him there at Beason’s Crossing. However, the Bexar, and – according to at
least two Mexican accounts –
latter once again demonstrated his incapacity by lingering too long at
subsequently flown at the
Goliad, and was intercepted and forced to surrender on the open
outset of the defense of the
prairie near Coleto Creek on 20 March. A week later he and his men Alamo, rather than the 1824
were marched out and shot down in cold blood. flag. Like the latter it was a
With insufficient men to hold the line of the Colorado, Houston and green/white/ red tricolor, and
as one gold star represented
the remaining Texians then fled eastwards in a headlong retreat
Coahuila and the other Texas, it
afterwards ruefully celebrated as the “runaway scrape.” His intention was
is likely that this is the origin of
simply to run for the border “and the old flag,” perhaps in the hope of the ‘lone star’ for Texas alone.
triggering US intervention;
but in the event his men
forced him to make a stand
at San Jacinto, where they
won an unexpected victory
over Santa Anna on 21
April. The Generalissimo
himself was among the
prisoners, and agreed to
order all Mexican forces to
evacuate Texas. However,
while the Treaty of Velasco
ostensibly ended overt
hostilities, Mexico refused
to recognize Texas as
an independent state, and
fighting continued sporad-
ically for the next ten years.
2 See Campaign 89, The Alamo 1836 7
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THE REPUBLIC
After the battle of San Jacinto, Sam Houston turned over command of
the army to Thomas Jefferson Rusk and went to New Orleans for
treatment to his ankle, which had been badly shattered by a canister
round. In his absence another raid was planned on Matamoros after two
In the 1830s the northern Texian commissioners were arrested there in July while negotiating an
boundaries of Texas and some exchange of prisoners. Although the port was blockaded by the Texian
of the other Mexican states
Navy, nothing came of the expedition and the proposal was abandoned
were very vaguely defined, if
after Sam Houston returned, to become president of the new Republic
at all, leading to considerable
conflict in later years. on 22 October. With his inauguration, Rusk’s caretaker role came to an
8
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end and day-to-day command of the army
then passed to the decidedly unstable Brigadier-
General Felix Huston.
This soon turned out to be a mistake. Huston, a
“turbulent and overbearing” Mississippi planter,
had no previous military experience and was a
poor disciplinarian. Consequently, in December
1836 a West Point graduate named Albert Sidney
Johnston became the senior brigadier.3 Outraged,
Huston declared Johnston’s appointment to be an
attempt “to ruin my reputation and inflict a stigma
on my character,” and promptly challenged him
to a duel. After no fewer than three shots had been
exchanged by both parties, he put a bullet into
Johnston’s right hip. This rather unconventional
promotion gambit was to no effect, however, and
as soon as he was able Johnston began cracking
down hard on the disciplinary problems inherited
from his murderous predecessor.
Unfortunately a combination of boredom
(scarcely alleviated by intensive drill), short
and monotonous rations, poor clothing and an
over-abundant supply of worse whisky led to
rampant insubordination which occasionally
turned into violent acts of mutiny. The officers
were just as quarrelsome, and in the nine years which followed the Mirabeau Buonaparte Lamar
battle of San Jacinto the Texian Army would actually lose more officers (1798–1895). Born in Louisville,
killed by their own colleagues than by the Mexican Army and the Georgia, Lamar was given a
verbal commission as colonel
Comanches together.
of cavalry at San Jacinto, and
Disgusted, still suffering from his poorly healed wound and at odds
within a month was named
with President Houston, A.S.Johnston resigned, and on 7 May 1837 major-general – only to be
turned over temporary command to Colonel Joseph Rogers, the senior rejected by the rank and file.
officer at headquarters. Aware that Felix Huston and others were However, as president of the
Republic he strengthened the
still agitating for another raid on Matamoros, the president defused
regular army and embarked
both issues by sending two-thirds of the army on furlough, retaining
on an ultimately unsuccessful
only about 500 men to garrison the most essential posts. By the end of policy of expansion. After
that year only the small garrisons of regulars at San Antonio de Bexar annexation by the USA he
and Galveston remained. served under Zachary Taylor as
an officer in the Texas Mounted
Volunteers. (Texas State Library
Lamar’s presidency
and Archives Commission)
However, after Mirabeau Buonaparte Lamar succeeded Houston as
president on 10 December 1838, the regular army was dramatically
revived. Lamar shared James Grant’s old vision of a greater Texas
embracing the other northern Mexican states to stretch all the way from
the Gulf to the Pacific. Moreover, while Sam Houston had enjoyed good
relations with the Cherokees and other Native American tribes in East
Texas, Lamar was firmly of the opinion that they were occupying far too
much valuable land – an important consideration for a state whose only
resource was its land, whether to pay its soldiers and other creditors or
to underwrite foreign loans. Conflict was inevitable, and for that Lamar
needed a real army.
3 See Elite 94, American Civil War Commanders (4) Confederate Leaders in the West 9
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On the recommendation of the new secretary of war – Albert Sidney The Alamo chapel shortly before
Johnston – all the remaining regulars were consolidated into a new its acquisition by the US Army
“Frontier Regiment,” which although including both a cavalry and an in 1850 and the subsequent
“restoration”; it was already
ordnance element continued to be referred to as the 1st Regiment of
a potent shrine to Texan
Infantry. Ostensibly its purpose was to garrison a string of forts along a
independence. Although
military road to be constructed along the northern and western frontier the scale is dramatically
from the Red River to the Nueces. Although a brave start was made and exaggerated, this engraving
some of the forts were constructed, the road was never completed, and closely resembles a
daguerreotype made in the
few of the required additional recruits ever materialized. Consequently,
late 1840s which came to
while some regulars fought in the Cherokee War, in the celebrated
light during the 1990s.
“Council House Fight” with the Comanches at San Antonio (when a peace
conference went disastrously wrong), and at the subsequent battle of
Plum Creek, most of the Indian fighting and border defense continued
to be undertaken by volunteer Ranger companies and militia.
1839: Canales and the “Republic of Rio Grande”
Meanwhile, Lamar was not the only one to revive the idea of a Republic
of Northern Mexico. On the other side of the Nueces, Antonio Canales,
who had been one of James Grant’s Federalista contacts during the
revolution, again invoked the constitution of 1824, and in September
OPPOSITE This simple flag
1839 led yet another uprising against the Centralistas. Proclaiming the
bearing a gold star on a
independent Republic of Rio Grande, which was to encompass the blue field, designed by
northern Mexican states of Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon and Coahuila, David G.Burnet, served as
Canales appealed to Texas for aid and laid siege to Matamoros. the national flag of the
Republic of Texas from about
Although Lamar declined to become directly involved (officially,
December 1836 until replaced
at least), he did nothing to discourage Canales from recruiting
by the much more familiar
10 mercenaries and filibusters for a “Texian Auxiliary Corps.” Lone Star flag in 1839.
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